ghouse sample...

here's one from the photo shoot last week...

-rusty

Daniel Lanois at Exit/In: One of the Top 5 Concerts of My Life

Here is a review I wrote on the night of May 14th, 2003. This was one of the best concerts I have ever seen, maybe the most creative musical moment of my lifetime. Funny thing is that this got passed around my office at CAA, and one of the agents insisted I show Billy Bob Thornton when he was in the office that day. So, yes, I talked to Billy Bob about Daniel Lanois and gave him the review, ha.

Above is video from a live radio recording at KCRW in 2003. Not my concert, but still great.

Review of Daniel Lanois - 5/14/03 - Exit/In - Nashville, TN
-rusty

There are some moments in our lives, musical or not, that have some sort of transcendence. It's almost as if there's some kind of mystery in the air that we can feel and encounter, but it alludes to something much bigger than us. Sometimes these moments are encountered outside wading in a river fly-fishing and becoming enveloped in the outdoors, sometimes these moments are encountered with the best of friends, and sometimes we are lucky enough to experience music in such a way that it becomes a full-on assault on all of our senses. It's when our whole spirit opens and layers upon layers of sound are bypassing the ears and going straight to the heart, straight to the soul. It's almost as if it was any stronger, we might pass out from an experiential overload. Ha, now that would be interesting. But the experience was so intense...

Church, I felt like I was at church. Not church as in sing some hymns, hear a sermon, and meddle in religious banter. I mean church as in the Spirit was in the room. There was a feeling that something magical was happening and a concentration on what was happening in the moment... not thinking about tomorrow's work schedule, and not a thought of yesterday's parking ticket. Just the moment, and last night at the Daniel Lanois show, I'm proud to have experienced something bigger than just hearing songs.

Musically, the show was incredible. Lanois pulled luscious tones out of his vintage Gibson guitars. Unlike most experimental guitarists who rely on pedals to constantly tweak and manipulate, Lanois had the tone set where he wanted it and instead of playing with his pedal board, he made the music come out of his fingers. Lanois constantly was changing the pickup settings on his guitar, constantly entwining his pickles fingers with the strings, slamming his open hand energetically across the strings, and essentially doing whatever he could with his body to create the most incredible sonic soundscapes.

This, mixed with his backing band, Mother Superior, was more than enough to make most industry types walk away from the show in complete shell shock. His songs were brilliant, covering old material such as The Maker to most of the new tunes on his latest record, Shine. I felt as if I was in on a historic show, as if I was watching Buffalo Springfield with Neil Young and Steven Stills, or sitting in on a Cream set in the late 60's. And to top things off, Daniel and his band didn't neglect his instrument of his choice since the age of nine, the pedal steel guitar. The richness of the atmospheric and haunting slide ricocheted through Exit/In and hauntingly brought the crowd to an even greater awareness. Nashville might be the home of the pedal steel, but somehow Lanois resurrected it to life. He then capped the night off with the instrument and performed a hymn that he has been writing recently.

With the vocals absent and the story being told on the Nashville-made instrument, it was a timeless and stunning conclusion to the night and a further emphasis on the spiritual nature of his music.

Whatever it was, there was something in the air last night. It was in the music, the vibe, the people, the air. It was just one of those magical moments, and I'm proud to add it to my life experience.

New Art Photos Designs...

Hey guys,

Since being back from Europe, I've been really busy working on several projects. I have yet to get to the Europe photos, but here's what has been keeping me busy:

1. Visual art Book and large giclee prints of photos I took of the Berlin Wall, juxtaposed with iconic images of the time... like photos and east german propaganda. I'm about 50% complete, so be on the lookout for this in the next month. I'll post some samples when finished, and I'll be selling the books, as well as Giclee art prints (28" x 20") on fine art paper or canvas. The images are looking awesome. They're extremely detailed and you see different perspectives each time you take a peak.

2. Just finished 2 photoshoots, one with Griffin House, and another small one with Gregory Alan Isakov. Hopefully Gregory and I will shoot some more in the next couple weeks. Check out one of the photos of Gregory here. Above is one of Griffin and I playing around on the set.

3. I also have a photo/design portfolio to complete... and trying to throw a website together in the next couple months. And I have a full time job... can someone please add about 10 hours to each day? Please!

Cheers!

The Mountain Sun: Boulder's Best

Being back in the states has given me a new appreciation for the things of Boulder, especially one of my favorite local breweries: The Mountain Sun.

The Mountain Sun is the quintessential Boulder establishment. It has all things heady, and provides the liberal hippie town of Boulder with a beating heart. With over 20 Mountain Sun brewed taps, this is beer paradise. Throw in the best bleu-cheese bacon burger, dreadlocks, facial hair, and the spirit of the Grateful Dead and their jamband brethren... and voila, you have "The Sun". February happens to be Stout Month, so The Sun has over 10 stouts on tap, including their own 8 beers and several guest taps from places like Young's (England) and Dogfishhead (Delaware). My favorite stouts include the Coconut Cream Stout, The Korova Cream Stout (or the tangerine zest version!), Old School Stout, The Trickster Stout (think IPA meets Stout), The Stoked Oak, The Ladies Man (my friend Brady's homebrew winner).... shoot, they are all my favorites! Not to mention all the other beers including my favorite hoppy beer of all time, the FYIPA. FY does not stand for "For Your", they abbreviated another saying to decribe how amazing this beer tastes. Like I said, this is Beer Heaven.

The employees are also a wonderful group of free-spirited people... they share tables, share cooking responsibilities, share tables, and share beers during the busy hours. I have come up with 3 requirements that one must have to work here, in no particular order... only one needs to be met, but all three are preferable:

1. Dreadlocks. Either you have them, or have had them at one time in your life. Dreadlocked Rastas for sure.
2. Hops. You must have an insatiable thirst for Hops! The IPA is king here.
3. Stash. You must have a nice little stash of "herb", or at least some at home awaiting your arrival.

I don't think most employees have a problem meeting one of these requirements, and for this we are grateful because if this were not the case, it would not be the Mountain Sun.

Here are a couple photos of one of my favorite hippie Boulder places:

"Jerry" chillin from the rafters

Best nachos in Boulder, and of course the best quesadillas...

When you sell 18 million pints in 3 hours, you must wash them quickly.

Support your local brewery... err, bartender.

Mikey, one of my favorite people at the Sun, and all the amazing selection behind him

The Guest Tap: Young's Double Chocolate Stout on Nitrogen Tap

Now, I have an M.A. in Beer (aka, I've lived in Boulder for 2 years) and I have also traveled through Europe on different occasions and tasted some of the best beers the old world has to offer. Given that, I am willing to issue a challenge to any city in the world... pick the best of every beer genre (IPA, Stout, Porter, Pale Ale, Hefeweizen, Amber Ale, Etc...) and compare those to Boulder's selections. With the Mountain Sun, Avery Beer, Boulder Beer, Twisted Pine, Oskar Blues, B.J's, Walnut and other breweries... I don't think any city in the world can touch Boulder, which is why I love this place.

Cheers to that!
-RUSTAFARI

My Icoon Book - I wish I had it in my dreams.

I'm back, and I just woke up around 5 AM again,
as I am still adjusting to the time change.
I woke up in the middle of a dream where I
was in a train station in a remote part of Germany
and everyone spoke a bizarre language and no
German. The floor was like a Tetris puzzle
and I couldn't communicate with anyone where
I needed to go.

If only I had my Icoon book!

I got a copy of this at Jenna's product show
and it is quite the amazing book.
The same size as a passport, but thicker,
it fits in your pocket and is a global picture dictionary.
So, when you find yourself in a foreign nation
and you need to tell the doctor that you
have been vomiting, just point to the picture.
Or if you want broccoli, salmon, or need the police...
just show someone the Icoon book and point.

Brilliant! Browse their website check it out.

prague to berlin to munich then home

what up everyone... i'm back in berlin after spending some time in prague. here are a couple observations on praha:

1. downside: they don't stamp your passport anymore! they are more lax now, so no armed czech border guards with m16 machine guns when entering the country. bummer!
2. upside: they are still on their own currency, the koruna. so, it's not generic like the euro... long live the local currency!
3. downside: touristy! this is no prague that i visited 6 years ago... at least not anywhere near the center. it is now on par with the most tourist city centers. the days of dive bars and cheap awesome food and underground hip bars near the old town are long over. however, i you get off the beaten path, there are some cool locations to check out. maybe i experienced it on the tail end of the golden age? kracow was like prague years ago... more locals and not yet over commercialized. which kind of brings up the thought that every city or district probably has a golden age... a time before gentrificaton... or, maybe the very first stage of gentrification when the artists move in, things are really cheap, and free spirits bound. when places are in the stage, like east nashville, that is the area that is the most exciting for me. there's such an energy. ANYWAY, i digress.
4. upside: prague is still absolutely beautiful.

so now i'm back in berlin where i just had the most providential meeting with some friends. so, my friend caroline tells me of her friends living in berlin... jady and liza. so, they graciously offer to let me sleep at their place and we hit it off and hang out and find out some crazy things. get this... they are friends with caroline... liza is a cousin of my friend susy (scott and susy in encinitas), and jady knows my friend peter b in nashville. WHAT? this is unreal. i've know so many similar people... and the connections are so numerous. it's like all my worlds know jady and liza... so bizarre! it incredible, and they are the most gracious and cool people. we're having an fantastic time.

anyway, i'm going to munich tonight and i have a an overnight layover so i'm going to attempt to go to the hofbrau haus (sp?). wish me luck. be back on sunday.

seeya!

(pictured above are jady and i toasting some becherovka after a night of dinner and wine at a cool marxist type vibed berlin establishment... it was pay what you want to contribute, which was cool)

dziekuje, danke, and however you say it in czech !

dziekuje (jen-koo-ya), dziekuje... thank you poland.

i haven't been to the computer much, but here's a little update on my trip. no photos, but they will follow when i get back.

The trip has been divided into 3 destinations: berlin, krakow, and prague... here are some notes on each...

BERLIN:
The are cities you can wander and cities where you can and Berlin is definitely the former. Here's how it went... Jenna and I would start exploring the town at night and looking to have a beer.
1. start wandering
2. end up in the abyss... aka... not a pub in sight... just big grey buildings
3. end up in some kind of platz... or modern outdoor mall in the middle of the city. new commerial area that was lame.

We were actually starting to get down on Berlin for the lack of nightlife... but then a particular part of town saved the day...

Kreutzberg!

Mix tons of graffiti with a bunch of artistic dive bars, and add some young people and really really cheap beer, and you have the revolution of Kreutzberg. It was awesome! Abd Jenna and I also have some tales of the currywurst to tell you later!

KRAKOW:

After finding Kreutzberg and exploring some other things in Berlin (like the Wall, etc), Jenna and I caught a night train to Krakow, Poland. We had heard bad stories of night trains... either people not getting any sleep or getting something stolen, but for us it was perfect... but we did have one adventure getting on the train.

For some reason, no one spoke english at the Berlin train station, and the ticket kiosk would not let us purchase a ticket to krakow. so, we got on the train and had no idea what was going on... so, the attendant asks us to pay after the train has left and we have no cash! they also don't take credit. so, when the train stops i have to run out and get money and spring back! and when i tried to use the atm, it denied me the first time! so, we almost had a mishap... but it worked out.

Krakow was fantastic. It was cheap, beautiful, full of some really cool bars and restaurants, and really friendly. It is not yet a tourist driven town, but is getting there... so, it was very legit. jenna and i love poland. kasmierez is the former jewish district that was really fascinating... loved it!

ok, gotta run. more later!